I never realized that the SB 300/400 pups and control section ...

uwe · March 18, 2016, 10:29:36 AM

... were that blatantly lifted off a guitar, namely the ES 320:

Those thrifty Kalamazooians!

But the guitar seems to fetch quite a bit more.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1970-GIBSON-ES-320-VINTAGE-EXCELLENT-BEAUTIFUL-CHERRY-RED-FINISH/111583919951?_trksid=p2047675.c100011.m1850&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20140602152332%26meid%3Ddb119ffd773d4c1ca426b465288d3eb8%26pid%3D100011%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D1%26sd%3D172118132249

shadowcastaz · March 18, 2016, 11:04:03 AM

Very cool. Never saw that guitar before. I put an ebony board, Triumph guitar pups and an old schaller bridge.
I dusted it off and Im recreating it for a cousin. Control plate and rings are made from Holly.

Granny Gremlin · March 18, 2016, 11:27:38 AM

Nice one Shadow.

I did not need the GAS I now feel after learning about the existence of the ES-320 though. [shakes fist in general direction of the Eurozone]

edit: goddamn those aren't cheap, like at all.

uwe · March 18, 2016, 11:31:03 AM

But that was only to restore some symetry between our more recent posts, Jake!

uwe · March 18, 2016, 11:33:13 AM

I've always dug that metal control strip on the SB 300/400, the semi-circle plastic version of it on the SB 350/450 wasn't nearly as cool.

Granny Gremlin · March 18, 2016, 11:36:36 AM

The brown one you posted looks so much nicer than the burst I am seeing on Reverb.com. All Maple apparently.

I have never actually liked a walnut finish on an instrument before. I suspect that it 's got something to do with all that beautifully patina'd nickel hardware + lighter stain (possibly due to the maple) with more grain showing vs the SBs.

Dave W · March 18, 2016, 03:31:05 PM

Actually the SB-300/400 basses were the bass companions to the SG-100/200/250 guitars. Same body, same pickups, same control panel (except for the SG-100 which was single pickup).

Here's an SB-200. IMHO the "reduced" price is wildly optimistic.

The ES-320s also used those controls but I don't think you'll find any actually selling at that price. They aren't that well respected compared to the ES-335 and other humbucker-equipped ES models. Those pickups sound much brighter in the semi-hollow body.

Grog · March 19, 2016, 04:46:21 AM

A friend of mine bought this at Willie's a number of years back....................

Granny Gremlin · March 19, 2016, 07:46:27 AM

See, that burst, to me, makes it look a bit cheap overall. The walnut somehow, mysteriously (because it has no such affect on me on anything other than an ES style body), classes the girl up. ... though I suppose I am very critical of bursts, they gotta be done right (the fade) or they look clownish to me.

uwe · March 19, 2016, 08:50:11 AM

My son has an ES-330 and swears by the sound of those dog ear single coils. Of course those Melody Maker single coils might sound quite different but one thing on the SB-300/400 basses they do not: sound thin. More like Ric or JB single coils and with surprising ooomph in the bass frequencies, yet a clear and pure, but not sterile tone overall.

shadowcastaz · March 19, 2016, 10:08:12 AM

I to like the guitar in the walnut finish. When I bought the gutted body it came with aluminum surrounds(no pup rout). I would have loved nickel but the aluminum did not spark my interest except as a template. I was advised to get some jazz master pups , trim the edges and use my Gibson MM covers. I came across some Triumph guitar pups and used them with the Holly plates. It cool to find a model guitar that is sort of forgotten . Thanx,M

Dave W · March 19, 2016, 12:39:03 PM

The burst that Grog posted does look garish to me. Last one I saw locally (some years back) was a blond finish, it looked better. Remember, though, these were Gibson's economy models. Gibson didn't put as many hours into the finish.

These pickups in an ES-320 didn't sound like the P-90s in an ES-330. They were much brighter, almost chimey.

Here's a Kraut with a 320.

Granny Gremlin · March 20, 2016, 08:03:36 AM

Nice try Dave, but that does nothing to diminish my GAS. Quite the opposite. An ES that kinda slides a bit into Jazzmaster territory. Those pups sound great in there.

Dave W · March 20, 2016, 03:15:44 PM

Quote from: Granny Gremlin on March 20, 2016, 08:03:36 AM
Nice try Dave, but that does nothing to diminish my GAS. Quite the opposite. An ES that kinda slides a bit into Jazzmaster territory. Those pups sound great in there.

I wasn't trying to diminish your GAS. My point was that they don't sound like P90s (or humbuckers) in that body. As he said, between jingle jangle and bluesy woozy. Pretty apt description. Not as chimey as a Rick 330/360, but not like a Gibson semihollow with P90s either. The Melody Maker type pickups don't sound nearly as brash in a semihollow.

I'll be very surprised if this one sells at anywhere near that price.

Granny Gremlin · March 20, 2016, 05:37:37 PM

You did actually say they sound bad tho.

There's like 5 of them (various fins) between Reverb and Ebay right now all listed at 2K or more. Yeah, that's not conclusive. There's no completed listings on ebay (a cherry one failed to sell at 1.7K last week) and Reverb's price guide (usually not bad) says 1.3-7k for blondes or bursts (so walnuts and cherries should be a tad less than that). But if all the currently available ones remain listed at 2+k then that could change.